Cops foil sit-in to save Singha Bari

Manned by police, all entrances to the DC's office were locked since morning. At one stage, a group of lawyers headed by the Sylhet District Bar Association general secretary had heated exchange of words with police at the gate adjacent to the Bar.

Later, the lawyers took up the matter with the district judge and sought his intervention. The judge asked the authorities concerned to open the gates to the DC's office near the Sylhet District Judge's Court premises. However, by the time the gate was opened, the agitators had shifted the venue and held the rally on the main road in front of the District Judge's Court.

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The rally organised by the Orpito Sompotty Ain Protirodh Andolon, Sylhet (vested property law resistance movement) demanded a judicial inquiry into the 'illegal' lease of the Singha Bari by the district administration.

Speakers at the rally also demanded immediate withdrawal of the 'illegal' lease order, fresh lease to those who have been in possession for long. They further demanded that the DC apologise for his 'misbehaviour' with the agitators.

It was announced that a mass rally would be held at the city point on June 30 to press the demands.

The rally was chaired by convenor of the Andolon and Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran. It was attended among others by ex-chairman of Sylhet Pourashabha AFM Kamal, District Awami League President ANM Shafique, AL General Secretary Iftekhar Hossain Shamim, former lawmaker Syeda Zebunnessa Haque, Sylhet District Bar Association General Secretary EU Shahidul Islam, Ward Commissioners Azadur Rahman Azad and Abdul Khalique, ex-MCA Ashraf Ali, Secretary of the Andolon Lokman Ahmed.

The speakers sought cooperation of all concerned to save the property.

An organised group of land grabbers under the shelter of an influential quarter and the district administration is trying to occupy the vested property wroth about Tk 4 crore at Chouhatta in the city.

Members of the joint families of the Singha Bari had been in possession of the property since 1974 and government rents against the lease have also been cleared till 2001. But, since then the local administration has been refusing to receive the rents citing various reasons, sources said.

The DC recently issued allotment of the land and property to some people without giving any prior notice to the people in possession. The inhabitants are now feeling insecure.

Organised quarters made several attempts in the past to gobble up the land and property by obtaining fake documents, the sources added.

Govinda Narayan Singha Majumder was the owner of the historic 'Singha Bari'. Dignitaries like Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam had visited the house. Some of his successors went to India during the Pakistan period while some others stayed behind and are still in possession.

The absentees' share was declared abandoned property in the 1973. In accordance with the government provision, the abandoned portion was leased out to other co-sharers in the 1970s.